ROCKLAND – A convicted rapist from Rockland who lived in Maine for 34 years before he was caught has been sentenced to almost seven more years in prison for gun charges.

A judge in U.S. District Court in Portland on Friday handed 53-year-old Gary Irving the additional time on top of the up-to-40 years he's serving for the rapes he committed while living in Massachusetts.

Irving fled to Maine in 1979 after he was convicted of raping three 16-year-old girls in Weymouth, Cohasset and Holbrook.

Irving faced the possibility of life in prison in 1979. But the judge who would decide his sentence, Robert Prince, allowed him to go home to his parents for a week. Irving’s father was an auxiliary Rockland police officer, so Prince didn’t believe Irving was a flight risk.

Prince, who died in 2010, expressed regret about the decision in later years.

After defaulting, authorities said Irving settled in Maine, where he was married, worked in telecommunications, and had children and a grandchild. He fraudulently used his brother’s name and Social Security number to create a new identity.

At the time of his arrest, he had nine firearms in his residence, including two illegal short-barreled firearms.

Prosecutors say he wasn't allowed to have guns because he was a fugitive and had a violent felony conviction.

The Portland Press Herald reports that Irving's lawyer had asked that he be able to serve the two sentences at the same time.